credited As

Oh, so that's who.
Ever find yourself traveling through time and space with someone you totally dig but had literally zero idea about who or what they are? Who doesn't. And for the current iteration of our fair Doctor — someone who never really knows why, just who — we're still trying to find out exactly that. So, Doctor, who is Clara Oswald? We're well into Series 7 of Doctor Who now, no doubt building up to what is sure to be an epic finale and even more epic 50th anniversary special, and Saturday night's episode "Journey to the Center of the TARDIS" found Clara and Eleven in full-out, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey mode. Starting today I (Alicia Lutes) will be your Hollywood.com companion for all things Who. I like bowties (they're cool), blue boxes (always seem so much bigger on the inside, don't they?), and hashing out Who theories. But enough about me: let's talk about Eleven, Clara and the fantastical adventure Steve Thompson wrote us, shall we?
We found Clara and the Doctor bickering on (as they seem to always do so well) about what else: the TARDIS. Seems that our favorite blue box's issue with Clara is now a plot point — as evidenced by her curious behavior throughout the back end of this season. Something about Clara is off enough that we know ol' Sexy doesn't seem to totally appreciate (reminds me of the time when the TARDIS tried to shake Jack Harkness off) her. Regardless, the Doctor seems determined to make his two favorite ladies get along, come hell or high water.
...Or even a magno-grab! The episode begins in one of those too-obvious-to-have-been-an-accident sort of ways that has most Whovians playing inspector from minute one. Let's make Clara and the TARDIS get together, let's turn off all its defenses, let's park ourselves right next to a scrap metal ship, and — oh look! — looks like someone went and got themselves sucked right into the trash truck. Clara is lost within the depths of the TARDIS, and the Doctor needs to get her out and also save the TARDIS from her exploding heart.
The Van Baalen brothers and their android companion Tricky (interesting name, eh?) are constantly on the look out for garbage that could glean them a fat stack or two. How very "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship!" Not a bad thing, of course, but the brothers Van Baalen felt a bit too much like plot tools for bigger parallels and discussion going on within the show rather than fully-idealized characters.
But the episode wasn't all style without substance. Perhaps even creeper than last week's "Hide" was the revelation that Clara, the Doctor, and the brothers Van Baalen were being chased by monsters that weren't just creepy time zombies ("Good guys do not have zombie creatures, rule one basic storytelling!") living on the TARDIS, but actually future, dead versions of themselves attempting to reassert future events. Highly unnerving, if a bit easy to predict. Regardless, the idea was a great visual representation for not only their relationship, but also the confrontations that happened later.
Namely two: 1.) between Gregor and Tricky, who we come to find out is actually just a human and 2.) between the Doctor and Clara when they're in the heart of the TARDIS.
Tricky, upon closer inspection, is quite an interesting character device. Gregor and Bram "created" him for a few reasons: mostly, because they were bored, but also because he was the smart one (the boys' father originally wanted to leave the business to him), and it was a way for them to have "a bit of fun" with the accident that took away Tricky's memories, voice, and eyesight. Which is interesting because throughout the entire episode you're constantly reminded of how much more human he is than the humans, given his ability to empathize and feel for others. He's constantly the one parlaying how the TARDIS feels. "You're always on the side of the machines!" his brother yells, but he's just the most emotional one — so he is able to connect far beyond the reaches of skin and bone.
One of the ultimate highlights of this episode for longtime Who fans was the did-not-disappoint sojourn into the TARDIS' inndards. The swimming pool, the TARDIS library (!!! We'll get back to that particular place and time in a bit), the swimming pool, the Eye of Harmony, and even the heart of the TARDIS herself: all there, all wonderfully realized. Other rooms we saw raised more questions, though: what was that massive telescope room (is that the one from "Tooth and Claw" with the werewolf that Ten and Rose dealt with)? And what was that weird workroom where we saw the Doctor's baby bassinet and Amy Pond's old toy TARDIS, eh? A memory room, perhaps? a laboratory? Storage? There were boxes, magnifying glasses and a whole manner of things we couldn't manage to see in time. Even another damn umbrella (is Clara actually Mary Poppins or a mom or Gallifreyan-era wife?)!
I do love the TARDIS getting such a pivotal role this season, though. A sentient being, really. To prevent the looting Bram and Gregor are hellbent on doing, the TARDIS keeps shifting and manipulating its own architecture — changing rooms and creating new corridors (is that the excuse for all the lame hallway shots?) to trap the Van Baalens and any parts they attempted to loot. The TADRIS is infinite you guys. Just like those kids from Pittsburgh in that book about wallflowers.
Speaking of books: let's go back to the library. (No, not THAT Library, although I am always a fan of talking about that Library, too). We saw a teeny, tiny, insignificant little work being casually leafed through by Clara: The History of the Time War. Oh, really? So, Clara knows the Doctor's real name. Not that it matters since the episode ends with some real deus ex machina bulls**t at the outset. Sure, it's implied that she'll probably remember in the future (after running around some more with her clever boy, no doubt) thanks to the brothers remembering to be nicer to Tricky (per the Doctor's suggestion), but still. The whole "telling a story that is later erased by time being rewritten" thing isn't new, but it sure is frustrating sometimes.
And time does get rewritten in the end, when the Doctor throws the magno-grab activator back to himself through a tear in the fabric of time to the moment before the TARDIS exploded. The Big Friendly Button (or wait, is that Clara? Dun dun DUN!) has finally arrived, so that means the engine never exploded and nothing bad happened. As far as we saw, this loop of events happened twice: the first time he just threw the magno-grab control through the crack, but Clara caught it rather than the Doctor, so he had to go through the crack himself the second time to make sure there was no secret as to what it was for.
"Secrets protect us. Secrets keep us safe," is a motto the Doctor has always believed. But there's one secret he really doesn't seem to like: Clara. In the engine room we finally see the heart of the TARDIS and also the big confrontation between the Doctor and Clara. "So just tell me ... Just tell me who you are. ... I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do I keep running into you?" He tells her about the other Claras. "What are you, eh? A trick? A trap?" Clara didn't understand. "I think I'm scared of you right now more than anything on that TARDIS."
And then suddenly, it seems as though the Doctor understands something we really, really don't yet. The duo hug and are seemingly taken aback as evidenced by the fact that they simultaneously looked up at each other. But then something in The Doctor's eyes changed — as if a lightbulb went off and that sudden realization looked way deeper than that of "you're just Clara." No time for explanations though, because the TARDIS is "snarling" at them, attempting to scare the Doctor away in order to protect them.
Geronimo! With a leap, Clara and the Doctor enter the heart of the TARDIS and discover that the engine has exploded, but she's temporarily frozen the burst. He doesn't know what to do, but with a simple hand-grab, Clara has the answer: the burn mark has finally stopped changing and her fragile human skin (like parchment!) has exposed the plan to the Doctor.
And how does he solve it? "I need to find ... music!" Every episode has had music going on at its crux: the singing in Ahkaten, "Hungry Like the Wolf" on the submarine — there's so much that is accomplished by song (a River Song, perhaps?! Sorry, too easy. Feel free to groan). The Doctor uses the song in order to lock his sonic screwdriver onto their previous location in space and time in order to send the Big Friendly Button back through the rift. But Clara doesn't want to forget: not everything (certainly not his name). Tough titties for Clara, though, as the Doctor seems hellbent on imposing some time/space amnesia parlour tricks.
"Time mends us, it can mend everything."
Current showrunner Steven Moffat has always told us about the Doctor through the stories of others. It's part of his Who tenure signature; and my theory is that it's all about the redemption of the Doctor. Because when it comes to his role in Time Lord history, I think the Doctor’s way more important than we know. What if the "sliver of ice" inside of him (as mentioned by Emma Grayling in last week's "Hide,") has something to do with it? Explains the need for a human companion, certainly. But personally, I imagine that something larger is at play here. Perhaps that sliver is a part of Omega (I mean, he Does seem to come back every 10 years, yeah?), since Time Lords were made via loom after the Pythia's Curse (Google is your friend, non-nerds). And Omega was from the House Lungbarrow — same as the Doctor! This would also make them cousins, I believe. Either way, in the past the Doctor has confirmedthat he was made via the loom. And when that happens, you're born as a full-grown adult that's very child-like. I'd like to note that Matt Smith's Doctor has always been called "child-like" and Clara is a nanny (and always has been throughout her many iterations).
Ice also relates back to the Great Intelligence, though, so who knows.
But I don't think the Doctor's future is necessarily in the right order. I think the Doctor is being played young because even though he's existed for somewhere between 900 - 1200 years (depending on the episode), his regenerations aren't necessarily getting older, but rather hopping around within his own history. Because "generate" means to cause or produce something, but to "regenerate" means to regrow, replace, or be re-born. To me, the story feels like it has something to do with the fact that the Doctor is (I bet) someone far more important to the history/world of the Time Lords and its origins than may have been previously detailed. And, I think it wasn't necessarily good, which is why he is now known as the Doctor, aka someone who fixes things that are bad.
It also makes me think of Little Red Riding Hood. (Stay with me, I swear this makes sense.) My roommate brought it up last week as a half-joke when I remarked about how Clara is ALWAYS wearing the color red, or something with red on it/in it. Red actually seems to be quite the repesentational color for all of the companions: Rose (no explanation there), Donna Noble and Amy Pond's red hair, Martha Jones' red leather jacket, and now all of Clara's red stuff (her red purse; this episode's red dress). Is the Doctor (or some other entity like the Great Intelligence, the Silence, or the upcoming big baddies the Whisper Men?) the Big Bad Wolf (Ahhh Bad Wolf!)? Because ultimately, Doctor Who is about the companion as the person the story is happening to (just like Red), but it also really is meant to be a tale about how an innocent victim can be taken and controlled by a criminal mentality (Red is literally eaten by the Bad Wolf) when the victim is removed from its safe space (home).
Isolation is key there. And we all know that the Doctor is a very, very lonely man. It's his loneliness that Moffat focuses on the most (from his very first episode, "The Empty Child," until now). And when you remove something or some one from that space where they're more visible, the criminal entity has an easier time trying to gain control. And in the Brothers Grimm version of the story, Little Red Riding Hood is also all about how dangerous it is to not obey one's mother. ("Are you my mummy?") You guys! I think whatever entity ends up being the ultimate string-puller is trying to isolate and manipulate the Doctor in order to change history. I think it's Omega (in the past), and the only reason he's even able to try and control the Doctor/humanity is because the Doctor has a tiny sliver of Omega inside of him, from the loom (which would tie into the resue from last week's "Hide").
But going back to Little Red Riding Hood, if it weren't for the lumberjack, Red would've been wolfmeat. So: who is that lumberjack? Is it River Song? The companions themselves? Someone else entirely? The Doctor himself? Run you clever boy, and remember!
If it were me writing this show, Clara would somehow be CAL (from The Library: haven't figured out how yet but it must involve that damn red leaf), River Song would be the woman in the shop who gave her the number of the TARDIS, and it all goes back to The Library. The Library is how River Song was not only saved, but also — I think — able to help save the Doctor. There's a reason she was there, and I don't think leading that archeology trip was the full answer. If we all know the Doctor lies in order to protect, why can't River?
Next week: The Crimson Horror. Ahh, there's that red again!
Other Things We MUST Discuss: - The key to the TARDIS — it says Smiths! Tell me River Song had that key made.- That big scratch! What in the ever-loving hell was that?- Lancashire Saxon - the Doctor says it into the intelligent sensor which then identifies Clara's time zombie as her: what does that mean? (Also/sidenote: the official flower of Lancashire? The Red Rose of Lancashire. RED ROSE!!!)- The Bells of Saint John are ringing again, my friend. Why is that?- Why, if everyone else has a dead future time zombie, does The Doctor not? How is it that he always manages to live when so many others around him die?- THE VOICES! Man, great atmospheric stuff in this episode tonight, huh? Not even just the music, but the voices. First in the library, and then again when Bram is at the console. We hear Amy Pond, we hear Clara, we hear lots of old familiar companions and Doctors. Why is that?- And also: we heard all those old voices of Gallifrey (Loved the line "Dreadful hats but smart!"). The drippy (reminded me of the crystal ball room in Harry Potter) Encyclopedia Gallifrey. Does it drip onto Clara? Part of it escapes and turns into weird airy stuff. What was that about? - It seems to me that the future continually trying to reassert itself is a theme we'll see more of later on. Do you agree?- In the original image of the Van Baalen brothers, Tricky was torn out of the photo, but at the end of the episode, he was not. This leads me to believe that when we see the Doctor and Clara at the end, the TARDIS explosion involved is different than the one they fixed — and also might've been the one that destroyed Tricky's voice, eyes, and memory.- Why is the Doctor so obsessed with how Clara FEELS? It's always about her feelings rather than say, her thoughts. Feels worth noting.- I've been saying for ages (to the two or three friends that don't groan and run in terror any time Doctor Who is mentioned in my general vicinity), but I think Moffat's been playing the long game on this story for far longer than anyone realizes. The episodes for the second half of season seven have been frustrating for many viewers. They're standalones, but also all have tiny parts to play in a much larger story. They're also so totally and completely out of order (Moffat really does love to do that, eh?), which I think makes many viewers go quite bonkers.
What did you think of tonight's Doctor Who? Sound off in the comments.
Follow @AliciaLutes on Twitter
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Shrouded in mystery is Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Season 5 finale arc. Recent episodes have very much delivered on the “Who Will Fall?” tagline that Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network have been using the past few months. But though the deaths of Pre Vizsla, Satine, and Savage Opress have been major—even shocking and moving—there’s been a sense that those have just been a prelude to the emotional devastation to come. Namely, it’s the feeling among fans of the show that these final episodes will answer the all important unanswered question of The Clone Wars: So what happens to Ahsoka? I haven’t seen the three episodes that follow “Sabotage” yet, so I’ve got no inside information for you, I’m afraid. But based on Ashley Eckstein’s responses during the Clone Wars Google Hangout I co-hosted last weekend, it sounds like something major is about to happen to Anakin’s Padawan. Major enough that these episodes were thought to be even more fitting as season cappers than the truly epic Darth Maul arc that just concluded. “Sabotage” feels like only a tiny fraction of the story to come, an overture to an intense emotional journey. What’s fascinating is that it included a number of story beats that were like mirror image reflections of plot points in Revenge of the Sith…further indication that, whereas that film sealed Anakin’s fate, these episodes will in fact have Ahsoka meet her destiny, whatever it may be.
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“Sabotage” began with an air battle over Cato Neimoidia. The Separatists had invaded the planet, which is odd, because I could have sworn that Cato Neimoidia was already a key member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Maybe the Republic had conquered it and now the Separatists had launched an invasion to take it back? Either way, it’s becoming clear that we’re heading into the final stages of the war. The fight for the Neimoidian purse world drew Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker’s involvement shortly before the events of Revenge of the Sith, as told in James Luceno’s novel Labyrinth of Evil, and would continue through the events of Order 66. You’ll recall that Plo Koon meets his end when he’s shot down above one of the planet’s famous bridge cities. (How did Plo Koon fanatic Dave Filoni not sneak in an appearance from the respirator-wearing Jedi master during this opening battle?)
This presentation of the Battle of Cato Neimodia was notable for a couple reasons. First, it’s the debut of the fan-winged Eta-2 Actis starfighter on the Clone Wars TV show! Kind of an intermediate design between the old Delta-7 Aethersprite Jedi Starfighter and the Imperial Era Tie Fighter, with a Sienar-style octagonal viewport, it gets my vote as the most beautiful starfighter design to emerge from the entire period of the Clone Wars. It also confirms what we’ve already been saying. The Eta-2 Actis was only introduced in the last year of the year, meaning that this conflict is headed toward its endgame.
Second, and more important, the events that opened “Sabotage” directly mirrored the Battle of Coruscant sequence in Revenge of the Sith. But whereas Anakin found himself in the position of helping save Obi-Wan from the swarm of buzz droids that had overrun his fighter, here it was Anakin who needed to be saved by his Padawan. When the buzz droids that had flocked en masse to the underside of his fighter caused some kind of exhaust leak that rendered Anakin unconscious, Ahsoka made a mid-air jump from her fighter to his to help steer him to safety. (If only she had let him crash, the galaxy may have been spared so much!) It’s the kind of heroics we’ve seen from Anakin himself so many times, and it proves, once again, that Ahsoka is truly her master’s Padawan. Like the opening of Revenge of the Sith, this sequence showed a master and apprentice bonded together by war, seemingly inseparable. And yet by the end of the film, Anakin will have gone from trying to save his master to trying to kill him on a lava planet. Could a similar trajectory await Ahsoka and Anakin’s relationship? That seems like a big leap, but it would be fitting with the moral of this episode: “Sometimes even the smallest doubt can shake the greatest belief.” We shall see…
NEXT: Could a rogue Jedi be capable of bombing the Temple? There is precedent…
No sooner had Ahsoka revived Anakin Master Yoda sent them a message: the Jedi Temple had been bombed. And since the bombing had occurred from within the highly-secure Temple, there is a chance a Jedi could have been responsible for it. Only Jedi who weren’t there when it happened could truly be trusted to investigate the matter. And of course, out of all the Jedi spread out on all of that Galaxy Far, Far Away’s battlefields, Yoda wanted Anakin and Ahsoka to lead the investigation.
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When they got to the Temple, Anakin and Ahsoka met with Russo-ISC, a forensics droid with a haltingly emphatic cadence and a tendency to stoop down and throw back a pair of mechanical goggles on his head. Yup, he’s the robotic answer to David Caruso on CSI: Miami. I mean, his name is “Russo.” And the “ISC” is there just in case you missed the comparison. (According to Dave Filoni in our Google Hangout last weekend, George Lucas is a big CSI fan.) Together they went over the crime scene. Anakin was quick to note that not every Jedi is in favor of the war. There are political idealists among the Order. I love how much contempt Matt Lanter put into Anakin’s delivery of “political idealists,” as if such idealism were tantamount to treason and terrorism. I’m kind of surprised Filoni, a huge fan of The Big Lebowski, didn’t throw in an exchange between Ahsoka and Anakin where the Padawan would say something like “There are Jedi pacifists, and some with emotional problems,” to which Anakin would reply, “You mean…beyond pacifism?”
But to be serious, yes, there had been Jedi who refused to fight in the war, and Jedi who were outright traitors. Other than Dooku and Krell, the Clone Wars TV series hasn’t really addressed them all that much. In the 2003-2006 line of Clone Wars comics, there were many, including Mace Windu’s former lightsaber instructor, Sora Bulq. And Mace Windu’s former Padawan, Depa Billaba, who went all Col. Kurtz while on a mission to Windu’s home planet of Haruun Kal. By the Force, what I would give to see the Clone Wars TV series adapt Matthew Stover’s Shatterpoint for an arc. We can dream, right?
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The evidence at the temple started to point to a flight-deck engineer named Jackar Bowmani. A flight-deck engineer who happened to be an expert at ordinance and explosives. I mean, they couldn’t find Bowmani—they guy had totally disappeared—so he had to have been the trigger man, right? Oh, well, he could also have been totally vaporized in the blast, since so many had been killed, but no one seemed to think of that until Russo-ISC produced a severed hand that belonged to the accused, and obviously deceased, bomber. Nanodroids of a highly volatile nature were found inside the hand, suggesting that Bowmani himself had been the bomb. Did that mean he had been a suicide bomber? When they brought in his wife, Letta, for questioning, she mentioned how rigorous the psychological profiling was for workers at the Temple. It had been her husband’s dream to work there. He would never set off a bomb there.
NEXT: So just what does your average, ordinary Republic citizen think of the Jedi?
Outside the Temple a crowd of protesters had gathered. Initially, from the previews of this episode, I had thought we were seeing a generic anti-war crowd who were specifically objecting to the Jedi’s role in managing the fight. But that didn’t seem to be the case here. These actually were relatives of the Temple support staff who had perished in the bombing. They figured that a Jedi must have been responsible for their loved ones’ deaths. Even though many Jedi had died in the blast as well.
It does point out just how precariously positioned the Order is at this point. Throughout much of the Republic, and certainly on Coruscant, there doesn’t seem to be a draft. The clones are the cannon fodder used to prosecute the war against the Separatists, and the Jedi lead them. In a sense the war has been privatized. And these clones are mostly fighting droids, not flesh-and-blood insurgents. With a few major exceptions, of course. The fact is, it’s probably hard for most of the Republic’s citizens to really feel like they have a stake in this war, that they have some responsibility for it. They haven’t been asked to sacrifice for it. They’ve got the clones to do the bleeding and dying for them. Their biggest involvement in the conflict comes through one-off traumatic events that occur every now and then, like when Coruscant lost power following the Battle of Sarapin and again later when General Grievous ordered a suicide bombing on the planet’s main power grid. Obviously, if you’re on a planet that gets invaded, that’s the ultimate terror. We can only imagine the chaos that must have engulfed Coruscant during General Grievous’ week-long space battle over the planet that opened Revenge of the Sith. After that, no wonder the citizens of the Republic were practically begging to hand over the keys to the galaxy to Palpatine. The fact is, without being asked to sacrifice much for the war, when these traumatic events happen people in the Republic feel doubly helpless, like they have absolutely no control over the chaos swirling around them. Maybe Palpatine could save them, but that’s it. Certainly not the Jedi, who’ve been fighting a three-year-long conflict with little headway and can’t even safeguard their own Temple.
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Anakin and Ahsoka decided to take a plunge into the Coruscant underworld to investigate Jackar’s place of residence. Damn, Ahsoka’s “I would have thought working for the Jedi paid better” at seeing their former employee’s lower-city tenement was about as cluelessly obnoxious as Anne Hathaway saying “Yay for dental!” during her SAG Awards speech. Ahsoka’s had it pretty easy, all things considered. Fighting a war may be tough, but putting in a 9 to 5 job to support your family and carve out a place for yourself in the galaxy? That’s a life-long commitment. The pad was pretty squalid, and I half expected to see the chalk outline of a Gungan on the floor, as was originally planned for Cad Bane’s Coruscant apartment way back in Season 2. Ahsoka found some nanodroids in food that was laying about. (Think of the nanodroids like Star Trek’s nanoprobes, except that instead of getting assimilated into the Borg Collective these just blow you up.) That must have been how Jackar ingested them. But did he eat them willingly or by force? Also think of this like Downton Abbey for a moment. Did Mr. Bates feed his wife the poison, or did she take it herself to frame him for her death?
Which is to say that I think Letta may in fact be getting set up here. I know, I know, it doesn’t look good for her, and she basically admits that she fed the nanodroids to her husband after she returns to the apartment, then uses some nifty parkour moves in a failed attempt to flee from the Jedi. I mean, she confessed! But isn’t this all a bit too convenient? A bombing happens at the Jedi Temple and the primary suspect, who had nanoprobes his bloodstream, appears to have been totally vaporized in the blast…with only his hand left behind to confirm his death. His oddly-accented, proletarian worker-hatted wife then becomes the immediate suspect. Could it be that Jackar pulled a Peter Pettigrew, cut off his hand, drizzled it with nanodroids, then had someone plant it at the scene of the blast to implicate his wife. Winter’s Bone tells us that cutting off your hand is a Meth Country trick for making the Feds think you're dead. For all we know Letta could be in on it, and she’s just agreed to take the fall for whatever reason. And from the preview, we definitely know that Letta is murdered in prison next week and Ahsoka takes the blame in a Hitchcockian “wrong man on the run” kind of scenario. This appears to be a massively orchestrated campaign to discredit the Jedi Order, and we’ve so far only seen the tiniest fraction of it.
NEXT: This episode was named after a 1936 Alfred Hitchcock film that also features a bombing. What’s the connection here to the Master of Suspense?
Speaking of the Master of Suspense, every episode in this four-part arc is a play on an Alfred Hitchcock movie title. After this we’ve got “The Jedi Who Knew Too Much,” “To Catch a Jedi,” and “The Wrong Jedi.” But this episode was “Sabotage,” after Hitch’s 1936 British thriller of the same name. If that film’s most famous scene is any clue to what happened in this episode, it may suggest that Bowmani was in fact innocent, or at least the unwitting triggerman of the explosion. The scene I’m talking about from Sabotage is one in which a young boy is riding a London bus, while carrying with him a package. A package that he doesn’t realize contains a bomb. And it’s ticking down to zero. Hitchcock’s editing ratchets up the suspense to 11. He intercuts shots of the boy, the other passengers, and glimpses of the street, with almost 20 repeated close-up views of the package, just to emphasize the deadliness of what the boy is carrying until the tension is to the breaking point. Here’s the scene I’m talking about:
Hitchcock later said he regretted this scene, because if a sympathetic character is killed so indiscriminately, it results in the audience checking out of the movie. Of course, he would upend that theory altogether with that little matter of Janet Leigh in the shower halfway through Psycho. All this is to say, that if this episode is a true homage to Sabotage, Bowmani probably was a fall guy. I personally would like to think it’s his wife who’s been set-up—hence she’s murdered in the next episode to silence her—but we shall see.
NEXT: What will be Ahsoka’s ultimate fate?
What’s interesting, though, is that Lucasfilm chose Sabotage as the reference point for this episode and not Hitchcock’s later film made during the war, 1942’s Saboteur, which is one of his classic “wrong man on the run movies.” They obviously just wanted this episode to be an inciting incident for what’s to come. Next week, Ahsoka gets her “wrong Jedi on the run” storyline. That brings me back to how I opened this recap: with the suggestion that “Sabotage” intentionally included several story beats from Revenge of the Sith. If it follows the model of that film, then this is the story of how Ahsoka ultimately leaves the Jedi Order. I don’t think she’s going to turn to the Dark Side. I don’t think she’s going to slaughter younglings. But my theory is that—and mind you, I haven’t seen the follow-up episodes, so I’m totally guessing here—when all is said and done, Ahsoka will actually walk away from the Jedi and the war. The fact that her exit from the Order will be more contemplative, and yes, idealistic, shows how fundamentally different in character and temperament she is, in fact, from Anakin.
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It’s something I pointed out in my recap of “The Lawless.” The Clone Wars seems interested in incorporating story beats from the movies every now and then—just as the Expanded Universe has. Last week’s episode was full of them. So was “Sabotage.” It’s almost Star Wars’ variation on Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence, the idea that we’re fated to undergo the same experiences over and over again. The Jedi Temple is ransacked and the Jedi themselves are hunted to extinction following Order 66? Well, that’s just like what happened during the Sack of Coruscant in the Great Galactic War 3,600 years earlier. And just like what will happen 130 years later when Darth Krayt’s Sith shatter the Jedi Order on Ossus and almost break the Skywalker line. This galaxy’s history is cyclical more than linear, or to borrow a phrase from another great space opera: “All this has happened before. And all this will happen again.” You could argue that this is just Lucasfilm regurgitating the same plot points over and over again, because of a lack of ideas. But I strongly disagree. I think it paints a portrait of a galaxy in perpetual flux, in which darkness and light ebb and flow and never entirely eclipse one another. Just like there were two atom bombs dropped on Japan, there were two Death Stars. Just like, as much as we think we have evolved, we wage wars based on fears and ambitions not that different from our ancestors thousands of years ago. Where there is sentience, there will be an eternal battle between order and entropy. In galaxies near and far.
And on that philosophical note, I leave you, Padawan Readers, until next week, when the plot thickens quite a bit more for Little Miss Tano. See you then!
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Lucasfilm]
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Last week, we dealt with a literal fire. Not even the metaphorical fire of PornStarMom’s red hair, but actual flames. Everyone this week is suddenly calling the incident an explosion, but this fire has nothing on the ending of Heathers. Still, I’m not going to correct all of the Liars for making something more dramatic than it actually is. Because, Lord knows I have never done that. Ever. Why didn’t the note that made Meredith enter the burning shed catch on fire? Why has Byron become literally the creepiest? Why doesn’t Aria just move out of her evil father’s home and move in with Mom? Why do I always have so many dumb questions?
I don’t ever expect answers for the many questions I have about Pretty Little Liars, but I’m also never upset. Why ask for solid answers when one show has provided this many hairstyles? I think that’s a really great mentality to live with these days. I think people are a little bored with Revenge this season because everyone’s hair is so consistent. The episode opens with some black-and-white creepy B-flick about finding dead bodies and a severed head in a hatbox. Maybe this is the movie Se7en is based on? The Thing That Couldn’t Die? I feel like I’m usually pretty great about film noir references, but I’m really just riding on Byron’s severed head clue. Spoiler alert on that one, Dad. I’m mad at myself for not being super on top of a bizarre cinematic reference from Team PLL. I hope The Thing That Couldn’t Die is right. Fact checking is boring.
Byron tries to have a great conversation with Aria during her afternoon movie, as in he tries to fake apologize for jumping to conclusions and screaming at his daughter about trying to blow up the girl he had an affair with. Okay. The police have found a real person that lit the blaze! Allegedly! Ever since Garrett’s sad Halloween train death, we haven’t seen the police; maybe they’re on a bit of a vacation. Aria is flinching away from her father and making her eyeballs as big as possible, which must be some sort of animal instinct when Byron the Murderer tries to corner you on the couch. Dad is nuts.
Meanwhile, in the high school’s basement, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna are trying to sneak back into Harold’s janky janitor dungeon and find Ali’s old diary. Harold is currently missing in action. I mean, hopefully Harold isn’t living in the basement… ? Oh. Wait. Caleb already did that. Also, it probably would have been smart to bring Caleb or Toby along for a little protection. Also, it probably would have been smart to bring Caleb or Toby because Emily can’t even find the light switch. Idiot. The best reference to Aria’s missing status in her struggle to escape the evil clutches of her father? “I have enough daddy issues of my own!” Hanna said this. Obviously. In the dark basement, Spencer realizes that someone else is already in the room; Spencer is the smartest and probably has supernatural powers after having sex with her werewolf boyfriend earlier this season, if case you needed a refresher. The mysterious person in the black hoodie runs out. Hanna sees his black sneakers. Ali’s journal is empty – “Keep moving ladies. Nothing to see here. –A.” God, A. What a surprise. The Rosewood K-Mart is completely sold out of black hoodies, I’m sure of it.
Next morning, the Liars reunite at their favorite coffee shop. I’m honestly really surprised someone hasn’t accosted Emily while in the coffee shop about suddenly quitting the hottest spot in town. Aria gets a weird coffee, because she’s a fetus human and doesn’t know how to drink real coffee. Aria shares her freaky-deaky dream from the night before (that movie probably didn’t help) – between lying to Ezra and the drama with her father, Aria is full of anxiety and all of her teeth falling out. I have a recurring dream where I pull all of my teeth out, which is basically the sadomasochistic version of the normal teeth anxiety dream. Oversharing! Hanna has dreams where gum is stuck in her hair, which results in her pulling out all of her hair until she’s bald. Hanna and I, we really are deep kindred spirits. Spencer has dreams where she dresses up as Quailman from Doug. Emily does not share her lesbian dreams, which is unfortunate. Mona arrives, looking really… pretty? What? Did I just say that? Mona claims that Harold was stalking her, and that he rigged the explosion to hurt her. Mona, you’re such a lying bitch. I can’t even look at her, despite her pretty blue dress. I hate Mona. I want Jenna back – she brings the evil you can really embrace.
Lucas and Hanna have a nice reunion, where Hanna lets Lucas know that she recognized his black sneakers from the basement. Hanna isn’t going to tell everyone about Lucas, because Hanna is the sweetest person (when you are her friend). Lucas needs to stop acting so damn paranoid and guilty all the time if he wants to stop the town accusations of being paranoid and guilty. Otherwise, all of those accusations really do line up. Regardless, LUCAS LIT THE EXPLOSION! THE FIRE! WHATEVER! Lucas was trying to scare Mona away. Props to Lucas for taking a matter into his own hands in the most unsafe way possible.
Paige makes her return as Worst Lesbian Girlfriend Ever. I feel like Paige and Emily are linked together for life, especially after Maya’s death and the entire lighthouse-kidnapping ordeal. Remember when Paige was setting herself up to be the ultimate villain of the century? Remember when PLL decides that it wants a character to be a new A suspect and makes them as creepy as possible in the span of two episodes? Paige and Emily decide to go to swim team party in the woods, which seems like a brilliant idea since both of their parents are so strict about their nightly endeavors. A PARTY IN THE WOODS. I went to a party in the woods when I was in high school, and it did not go well. Add on the fact that roughly 87 people had been killed in Rosewood in the past three months, and we have a recipe for wild success. Can’t wait for this date/party! I wish swim season would start up again.
Aria’s mother is back! She’s returned to school! She’s trying to convince her students that TMZ is not the only source for news, which is an absolute lie! Aria and her mother have a serious conversation about how Mom drank too much red wine after a party and missed Aria’s first call that Alison was missing. What a horrifying memory for a mother. Lest this episode deal with some honest emotional turmoil, Meredith oversees the conversation and gets shifty eyeballs. Eyeballs and hair, they’re everywhere. Aria’s made some nice understated fashion choices this episode! Unfortunately, Hanna is the one making the missteps. I sort of inferred that Byron got his wife really drunk on purpose, so he could sneak out to do dirty things in the night. That being said, I would love to share a couple of bottles of wine with Mom and laugh a lot.
Spencer is running for team leader of the Brainiacs, know as the decathlon team at Rosewood. I thought a decathlon involved playing 10 sports from track and field? Did I miss something? Am I spelling something wrong? Did I mishear? I mean, if we’re judging the build of the babe-nerd quasi-speaker for this school organization, I’d say that this man is also a star football player. And a model? And Spencer’s new dreamboat babecity heartthrob. Enough on him – Spencer’s rival for new team leader is in the hospital after a tragic bike accident (the black hood!), but she won’t be running unopposed. Spencer will run against… MONA. I don’t understand how Mona joined a smart club and is suddenly running for president the same day, but I guess Rosewood loves giving lunatics a second chance if they wear nice clothes. I would never be that shallow. Also, the weirdly cute mathlete tells Spencer to “put on the Hastings face and spank her.” The “her” here being Mona. Spanking! Fifty Shades of Spencer! Could we maybe get Troian to play Anastasia Steele? The two ladies will have a smart-off at the school the next evening, being quizzed on a bunch of random facts. Hopefully someone is flying Alex Trebek in for this.
The girls grill Mona in the courtyard about her lifestyle choices, and Mona admits that she doesn’t have a phone and is only allowed to use a computer for homework. When Hanna reminds Mona about uploading the sad Facebook pity video, Aria adds – “That was certainly calculating, but I wouldn’t call it trig.” Best line of the episode. That’s all. I was squealing so much for Aria that I’m not even sure how this scene ended. They probably showed Mona chew something that looks like lettuce while looking torn apart.
While the Liars hang out in Aria’s bedroom, Aria mentions that she is green and queasy. ARIA IS PREGNANT. Is there any other explanation for this blatantly obvious and random reference to Aria’s fragile health, even though she clearly has never been sick in life? I imagine Aria’s eyeballs collecting moonlight and healing her body. I love when television writers begin drawing the map for a show pregnancy. It’s always incredible, and “subtle” references to oncoming pregnancy feel like that train in Inception. When Aria goes to grab Aria’s diary pages from the bottom of her boot, the pages are suddenly missing. Hanna begins ripping through Aria’s closet, as if the pages accidently jumped into a different boot. However, it is possible that Hanna is just digging for a nice pair of shoes to borrow from Aria; Hanna’s brain is usually in the right place, which would involve finding new black boots. Byron shows up, giving everyone full-on creep and basically holding a giant butcher’s knife dripping with blood behind his back. Byron brings up Mike, Aria’s sister, and I suddenly wonder if Byron has also murdered Mike. I miss Mike making weird rearview mirrors for his desk in his bedroom and sneaking guns around – what a silly rebel.
Quick notes – Toby has a bad Taylor Lautner haircut, which could be remedied if he would stop leading a double life and take the time to visit a nice barbershop. Lucas is a huge secret superhero nerd, which makes him instantly cuter. I’m surprised Hanna didn’t say something about Lucas’ superhero collectibles (I would have “said something” by kissing Lucas on the lips). Mona is blackmailing Lucas, which I think is something we already knew about. Ezra’s big appearance in the episode comes in the form of chatting Aria, which is kind of adorable. HIGH SCHOOL IS THE MOST SERIOUS THING EVER, WHICH IS I SORT OF FORGOT ABOUT. Like, high school is out of control.
Aria overhears Meredith having a massive fight with Byron, and Aria realizes that something serious is happening. Again, Byron has become the worst character. Aria follows Meredith to, you guessed it, a coffee shop. Meredith caught Byron snooping through Aria’s room, and then digging through Meredith’s purse; he thought it was Aria’s purse, riffling through the belongings to find some papers. Interesting. Byron was clearly looking for those diary pages. Yikes. Aria is wearing a jacket that she probably got as a hand-me-down from Madonna’s daughter at age six. Meredith lets the cat out of the bag, explaining that Byron was with her the night of Ali’s murder – Aria’s father thought Meredith was in league with Ali in bribing/blackmailing him for the big bucks, so Byron was going to talk to Ali about the whole ordeal. Byron is a horrifying man. I don’t think I can say that enough in a single recap.
THE WOODS PARTY!!! Okay, we never make it to the woods party because Paige has a massive panic attack and Emily tries to calm her down by taking a casual walk through the woods in the middle of the night only to find that one of their tires has been severely slashed while they were away until Emily sees a black hoodie watching her and tries to chase Black Hoodie through the woods. Whew. Breath. This Black Hoodie is Toby. Duh. It’s so foggy in the woods at night. I wish I had a PLL creepy fog machine in my apartment. They eventually make it pack to Emily’s place, where the two celebrate their survival of the night with a sweet lesbian sleepover featuring a sweet lesbian kiss in two separate sweet lesbian beds. Emily thinks Paige needs to see a therapist about her panic, which is a smart move!
While all of this is going on, Spencer is facing off against Mona. Spencer looks better than ever in her electric blue jacket, white blouse, hip black pants, neck diamond, and chic up-do. BETTER THAN EVER. Spencer is so so so so so so so so so so so smart. That’s a factual statement. She keeps killing all of the questions while Mona continues to stumble, but somehow Mona is only three points behind after the second round? Cute football-playing nerd is asking the questions, and he’s clearly partial to Spencer. And by “partial,” I mean they should probably have sex as soon as possible. Suddenly, the director of this episode decides to show everyone in a weird porno glow with the bell to ring in the answer taking up 98 percent of the screen – maybe it shows the tension between Spencer and Mona? The sexual friction in the air between Spencer and Cute Football Nerd from Heaven? I get so nervous during sequences like this; I sweat profusely, bite my fingernails, and scream expletives at the television. Suddenly, on the final question (name all independent countries formed when the Soviet Union cracked), Spencer chokes and Mona turns into the smartest person in the world. Someone please explain. I almost vomited I was so upset. I haven’t felt such an urge to vomit while watching television since, well… last week, when The New Normal made it seem like Matt Bomer would have issues finding a steady life partner. GOOD TRY. RYAN MURPHY. GOOD TRY, MONA. Mona is Ryan Murphy.
Spencer has a brain meltdown – Cute Football Nerd tries to kiss Spencer to comfort her (I’m lying, that scene only happened in my head). Toby can’t pick up Spencer because he has dinner plans – an obvious lie. Hanna swoops in to rescue Spencer from Evil Mona’s evil brain game; Hanna also decides to read Mona. Not the “read” where you flip the pages of a book, but the “read” where you face your nemesis and metaphorically rip out their weave. You can also actually rip out their weave. Hanna’s hair looked bad this episode. “I don’t wanna see you, I don’t wanna hear from you, I don’t wanna know you.” Hanna wins.
Meredith and Aria are suddenly a team, and Aria has the flu (if “flu” is now code for “baby”). While the ladies make cute, Byron finishes up some work at his office. A black hoodie watches him leave – MONA. Mona is still up to her old tricks! Believe Lucas! Believe Hanna! Believe Spence! Mona tells her cohorts – “He’s leaving. I’ll call you back.”
Another black hoodie is shown hiding the bad guy from the Halloween homo-train under roughly eight leaves. Someone is going to find those masks, as they are clearly visible under only eight leaves. Everyone needs to start acting smarter, even Spencer. Mona is clearly a KGB agent, because she knows everything about all of the post-Soviet Union countries. Mona also has a lot of money post-insanity, as her wardrobe has been pretty solid. Hanna’s hair looks A M A Z I NG next episode, which makes me the happiest person in the entire world. How does Hanna’s hair change so radically from week to week? How does Spencer not realize that Toby can’t be stuck at a work dinner with his boss when Toby builds outhouses for a living? Lena Dunham gave Chad Lowe a fantastic and hilarious mention during her acceptance speech for Girls at the Golden Globes, which means Chad Lowe is (probably still) frantically calling his agents to replace Tom Cruise in the next Mission: Impossible film. Speaking of the Golden Globes, why didn’t Pretty Little Liars win anything?
[Image Credit: Adam Rose/ABC Family]
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Carrie Bradshaw is an icon. Like the bustling metropolis she calls her home, Carrie is larger than life. But before she was a Vogue columnist, before she had her first byline in the New York Star, before she met Mr. Big, she was just a curly-haired teenager living in Castlebury, Conn. The CW's The Carrie Diaries picks up before HBO's Sex and the City begins. It's SATC BC: Before Sex.
The year is 1984 and, as Carrie (played by Soul Surfer's AnnaSophia Robb) tells us in her opening voiceover, a movie star is in the White House and Carrie is ready to begin her first day of eleventh grade. That is, once she finds her mom's purse. Carrie's mom, we learn, passed away from cancer three months prior, and the Bradshaw family — which includes Carrie, her father Tom (Matt Letscher), and younger sister Dorrit (Stefania Owen) — is still reeling from grief. Carrie's mom's purse is Carrie's last remaining memento of her mom, and the audience's first glimpse at the sentimentality that seeps through the show's every pore.
While its predecessor was full or caustic wit with a touch of heart, with more dramatic episodes becoming the norm only in later seasons, The Carrie Diaries is dripping in earnest sweetness. AnnaSophia Robb may have some of Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrieisms down pat — a tug at her hair here, at bite of the lip there — but this Carrie has a long way to go before becoming the Carrie Bradshaw we know. And the first obstacle in the way of Carrie's Sex and the City future is her virginity. Reunited with her best friends Mouse, Maggie, and Walt (who is also Maggie's gay-but-doesn't-know-it boyfriend) at school, Carrie learns she's the last in the bunch to, as Mouse so eloquently puts it, have a guy "hot dog her keyhole." While she spent the summer mourning the loss of her mother and her childhood, Carrie's friends were busy losing a different kind of innocence.
Luckily for Carrie, a crush from summers past, Sebastian "Even His Name Is Cool" Kydd (played by Disney heartthrob Austin Butler) has just transferred to Castlebury High. He was Carrie's first kiss — and what a steamy, chlorine-filled one it was! — could be be the bestower of another milestone first? While SATC lore has Carrie losing her V-Card to Seth Bateman on the ping pong table of his family rec room, this wouldn't be the first detail of Carrie's backstory for The Carrie Diaries to change. (In the HBO show, Parker's Carrie notes that her father left her family when she was young. The idea for Carrie's mother to pass instead comes from author Candace Bushnell's source novel.) Either way, it's clear Sebastian will dominate many of Carrie's fantasies this season.
Along with a new love interest, the first day of school brings another new possibility for Carrie. Thinking a change of scenery might be just what the doctor ordered to cure Carrie of her mother-mourning, Mr. Bradshaw has arranged for his daughter to spend one day a week interning at a law firm in the Promised Land, Manhattan. For school credit, of course! Disbelief must be willingly suspended to stomach the notion that any father could think his newly motherless 16-year-old needs the stress of a new job over the comfort of a familiar environment, but hey, we've got to get Carrie to the city somehow, right?
Because this story really is about Carrie's love affair with Manhattan. A place where the tale of a pair of ripped stockings can magically morph into a chance meeting with an editor of your favorite magazine (in Carrie's case, Larissa Loughlin of Interview) and a night of glamorous clubbing. Who needs a teenaged boy at the New Beginnings Dance when an older, stylish woman wants to add you to her "collection"?
After catching the last train home, Carrie is rudely awakened from her Manhattan dream by the harsh reality of her life in suburban Connecticut. But before the spell wears off, Carrie demonstrates her newfound confidence and self-assurance in an exchange with Sebastian that foreshadows the Carrie we know a decade down the line. After finding Sebastian in a convertible with Castlebury High's requisite mean girl Donna, Carrie doesn't blink an eye. "It's not what you think," Sebastian stammers. "It's exactly what I think." And then, "That's it?" "For now." For now Carrie has the upper hand, Carrie can wait for the guy to come to her, for now (and evermore) Carrie has felt the pulse and possibility of the city, and no mere boy can shake that.
But troubles at home can. While Carrie was drinking champagne from the bottle and dancing at Indochine, Dorrit (dammit Dorri!) ran away from home. Rebellious, pot-smoking Dorrit of the heavy eyeliner has stayed out all night and gotten drunk. Younger sister, train wreck at 14 Dorrit has caused Carrie and her father to pace into the wee hours of the morning, "worried sick" with dread. When Dorrit reappears, Carrie cries and screams and pulls at her curls. "You think I want to have to be your mother?"
But all hope is not lost for the Bradshaw brood. For, as is the way of teen-friendly family dramas, Carrie's outburst has allowed dear old dad to see the error of his ways. Unable to let go of his wife, he has become a negligent parent. As a melancholy, acoustic version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" plays in the background, Tom and his daughters pack up their mother's closet, an unofficial memorial they have kept since her passing.
The episode closes with yet another wink at the future. In front of an open window, Carrie pulls back her hair into a ponytail and then leans over a journal (one of her mother's) to begin writing.
Follow Abbey Stone on Twitter @abbeystone
[Photo Credit: The CW]
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In 1971, Jan Sterling was 19 years old, married, caring for a one-year-old baby girl, and living out of a 1961 Econoline Ford Van. She was driving around the country in a state that she describes as "quite homeless." She says that her life was forever changed when, one day, she happened upon an old set of The Lord of the Rings books.
"I was saved by Tolkien's story and world," Sterling says. "It became my lifeline through those lonely, hard days and years after. It was incredible how the same story spoke to whatever life events I was experiencing."
Sterling isn't alone. The works of J.R.R. Tolkien have impacted millions across the globe thanks to the continuous publication of texts like The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and The Hobbit and Peter Jackson's highly successful adaptations of the Rings trilogy. Now, Jackson's version of The Hobbit is in theaters and is once again putting the spotlight on Tolkien. Even with the original trilogy's success, there was widespread skepticism for the project, first from the departure of original director Guillermo del Toro, and after Jackson took the reigns, the decision to split the 310 page novel into its own three-movie series. "I would say that half of the fans are worried and half of the fans are excited and pumped for The Hobbit," says John Tedeschi, a 45-year-old staff member of TheOneRing.net, the flagship site of Tolkien fandom on the web. "Most of that stems from the announcement of three movies instead of two. Most of that trepidation comes from these fans mostly being unfamiliar with the extensive world Tolkien made."
In a post-Lord of the Rings movie world, the fanbase is now a spectrum of young and old, those who read the books when they were younger and those who only discovered them after watching Fellowship of the Rings back in 2001. "I was introduced to Tolkien through general culture as I grew up, but first read the Lord of the Rings books in Junior year of High School," Craig Hermann, 40, says. "I don’t view Lord of the Rings/Middle-earth as ‘fantasy.’ It is Mythology, though contrived. I’m generally not fond of fantasy/sci-fi." Carlene Cordova, director of the documentary Ringers: Lord of the Fans, recalls receiving love poetry written in Elvish from her equally-enthralled high school boyfriend. "It had been cool to be a Tolkien fan in the '60s and '70s, but that all changed in the '80s. It was only us 'geeks' who were in to Tolkien before the Peter Jackson film franchise." That personal connection to the material carries through nearly all Tolkien fans. Marilynn Miller, 60, admits, "I felt this kind of secret, very personal relationship to them as if no one else in the world knew they existed. "
On the other side, there is Justin Sewell, who produces TheOneRing.net's weekly live video talk show, and caught Fellowship four times in theaters. "I read the books after all three films were released. The most important thing at the time was repeating that feeling of surprise and astonishment on screen. I wanted the sequels to feel like the first time I saw Fellowship and [I] was completely blown away." Aromee Kim, 27, was also provoked to pick up Tolkien's written work after experiencing Jackson's films for the first time. "I was not a huge fan of the sci-fi and fantasy genres and was dragged to The Fellowship of the Ring by a friend," Kim says. "The films got me to read anything and everything I could find in and about Middle-earth … They were the first fantasy characters I wanted to invest time in. They were my 'gateway' to other fantasy and sci-fi and comic book franchises."
Fans of the Tolkien oeuvre come from all different places and entry points, and in turn, they have noticeably different reactions to the movies. Erin Wruck, 26, tore through the LOTR books just before catching the movies in theaters. While she admires the movies, her fandom is founded on Tolkien's writing. "There's a lot in the books that I made strong connections with that were thrown to the wayside in the movies. I do understand that some things don't work on screen as well as they do on page, so ultimately everyone's favorite details and little bits aren't going to be in the movies and I'm okay with that." Hermann, who notes he enjoys the movies but can't help nitpicking as a fan, responds to Jackson's changes as reprehensible. "The change of characters and the shoe-horning of character development into an accessible format for the modern view of character arcs I found quite offensive to Tolkien’s work and study of Anglo-Saxon literature," he says.
While fans have gripes with the details, most focus on the the movies have nailed over what they've missed. With a personal history intertwined with the Lord of the Rings books, Sterling considers the work of Jackson and his co-writers Philippa Boyens &amp; Fran Walsh to be "like having more Tolkien." When it comes to Middle-earth on the big screen, any seems to be better than none. "They stay so true to the spirit and sensibilities of the Good Professor, that I have no problem embracing their adaptation. Jackson wasn't doing the book, he's doing Tolkien," says Sterling. Cordova can't help laud Jackson's original movies for just existing, declaring that the director and his special effects team WETA "created a realism and a depth to this franchise that no other fantasy film has ever come close to." The artistry tied to the films is what continues to engross Josh Long, a 31-year-old columnist at TheOneRing.net. "The collectibles I get from Weta Workshop, Sideshow Collectibles, Gentle Giant, and Artist Jerry Vandertselt all allow me to help bring Middle-earth into my home. I can show people this is what I like and why I like it allowing me to help spread the world Tolkien created to someone else," he says.
But there's a noticeable disconnect between most Tolkien fans and The Hobbit. Whether they were raised on the books or the movies, the prequel novel stands outside the undying love for the Rings trilogy. Liese May, 45, recalls reading The Hobbit at the age of 9 (after consuming Lord of the Rings) and feeling like the books talked down to her. Wruck also picked up The Hobbit after her Rings trilogy movie and book experiences. It did not go well. "It's like going from adulthood to childhood. I found it hard to finish; I kept putting it down and starting on other things, or re-reading chapters I liked from Lord of the Rings."
That disconnect from The Hobbit may be the reason why fervor over the follow-up to the massively successful Lord of the Rings films isn't as apparent as it should be (as was the case with the Star Wars prequels. But fanbase's of any kind rarely stay silent, and Pat Dawson, forum administrator for TheOneRing.net, says she has seen every possible fan reaction to the upcoming Hobbit films — with an emphasis on "every." "Some fans are worried that [Jackson] will stray too far from 'cannon' (either regarding the book or the Lord of the Rings movies)," Dawson says. "Some fans are worried there will be too much humor (despite the fact that The Hobbit book is much lighter in tone and has it's fair share of delightful humor written by J.R.R. Tolkien). Some fans are just plain overjoyed that they'll get to go back to the incredible world of Middle-earth created by PJ and crew."
"What it needs to 'succeed' for me is likely more what it needs to not do," Miller says. "It needs to not get too ridiculous in ways that jerk me out of the gentle fantasy of Middle-earth. Moments in LOTR that tend to do that are, in my opinion, moments of pure Jackson glee, but little Tolkien magic: tossing dwarves, cascading skulls, and Wilhelm screams." Kim is also wary of additional changes that come with spreading the book into three films. "The universe is rich enough without any unnecessary characters and plot lines revolving around said characters. I thought the move to write in new characters a rather arrogant move." Anne Giffels, 54, is blunt with her list of demands: a talking purse, talking eagles, animals serving dinner at Beorn's house, and an incredibly magnificent Smaug. "I want The Hobbit movie to be true to The Hobbit book, which means that it's lighter and not as epic as LOTR," says Giffels.
What the fans do need is the essence of those previous movies. Sterling was originally worried when del Toro was slated to direct The Hobbit, afraid that the movies may be more of a reintroduction to Middle-earth rather than "a return to it." Unlike Star Wars fans, who eventually chastised George Lucas for playing to a younger crowd with The Phantom Menace, Jackson appears to have flexibility with The Hobbit, in part because the book isn't as treasured to the vocal Tolkien fanbase. "I’m probably more excited for The Hobbit than I was for LOTR," May says. "I was actually quite worried about the LOTR movies, fearing that they were about to totally stuff up the stories I love so much. I’d always heard that it just wasn’t possible to do a live-action version of the books."
When reviews started trickling out for The Hobbit, an extreme group of fans took to sites like Rotten Tomatoes to take down the blockbuster's naysayer's. Few of them had seen the film at the time, but they had a harsh words for critics giving the movie bad reviews. Miller says we can't take those "fans" seriously. "The flip side of this — the people who are extremely worried about Tauriel [Evangeline Lily's character who Jackson has created for the films] or talking purses or jumping out of their skins to see it or fussing over how many negative reviews it is getting — are way more vocal. If one judges what the fan base thinks by putting one's ear to the screen, this is all they will hear," he says.
What keeps fans of The Lord of the Rings movies coming back for more, and why no matter the general reception is to The Hobbit as viewers take it in over the holiday season, is a deep, affectionate, is warm love for Tolkien's works that is rarely found in the "geek" world. Good or bad, keeping the fantasy world of Middle-earth in the conversation is the ultimate goal. "If you read his works and are as moved [by them], it becomes an integral part of your life," Tedechi says. "I would say we are not much different from fans of other series. Fantasy is a chance to escape the world we live in, we can leave our troubles behind and be totally engrossed in a land we wished we could live in. Whenever things in my life become tough and I feel like I am losing my way, I will reread the LOTR and it grounds me and gives me the hope and confidence to deal with the real world."
Forty years after picking up her first copies of the books, Sterling is still a Tolkien lover, a proud member of groups like TheOneRing.net, and an eager fan ready for Jackson's The Hobbit. Since 2004, she has been part of the site's "Make the Hobbit Happen" effort, promoting the idea of turning The Hobbit into the film and reporting every bit of news along the way. "This is the climax of years of worry, work, hope and fear. Now, elation and so much joy for Jackson's achievement after so many years of his fighting to make these films a reality."
Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches
[Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]
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Judge admits evidence in Jackson case
Following a weeklong hearing in which prosecutors and attorneys in the Michael Jackson child molestation case clashed over what evidence could be used in trial, Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville ruled today that 39 items seized at the singer's Neverland Valley Ranch can be admitted, Reuters reports. Melville said he might suppress other items of evidence he had concerns about, but would not issue a final ruling until September to give attorneys for both sides time to file written arguments. It was unclear what much of the evidence in question was because of the secrecy that has surrounded the case, but search warrant data previously released indicated the evidence tentatively admitted included several computer hard drives and a cassette recorder and audio tape found in a safe in Jackson's bathroom. Jackson, who attended the first day of the hearing on Aug. 16 with his family, is scheduled to stand trial on January 31 in Santa Maria, Calif., on charges of child molestation and conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty and is free on $3 million bail.
Test confirm Anthony didn't father child
A lawyer for Marc Anthony said a third paternity test has confirmed the Latin singer didn't father a child with a Cuban dancer as she has claimed, the AP reports. Miami resident Elizabeth Leyva brought a paternity lawsuit in a Florida court, alleging that Anthony is the father of her son, who was born late last year. Anthony refuted the claims and willingly volunteered to be DNA-tested. Orchid GeneScreen, which has labs in Dallas and Dayton, Ohio, conducted the most recent DNA test on Aug. 13. "The three leading paternity labs in the world have confirmed scientifically that he is not the father," lawyer Orin Snyder said Monday. "There is no reality to this claim whatsoever." Snyder said he has contacted Leyva's lawyers, asking her to drop the lawsuit. Anthony, who has two children with former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, reportedly married singer-actress Jennifer Lopez in June at the singer-actress' home in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Julia Roberts takes time off to be a mom
Julia Roberts, who is due to give birth to twins this winter, tells Newsweek magazine she plans to take a break from acting and make children her first priority. "I'm not planning anything. I can't imagine how big I'm going to get in the next three months, but ... you just kind of play it as it comes," Roberts said. "I'm allowed to do that, aren't I?" The twins will be the first children for Roberts and her husband, cinematographer Daniel Moder. The two were married in July 2002. Roberts, 36, tells the magazine her pregnancy has only just begun to show. "It does kind of happen overnight. You wake up and go, 'Oh my God!'" she said. Roberts has two films set for release in December, including the dramedy Closer and the sequel Ocean's 12.
DGA starts negotiations with studios
The Directors Guild of America, which reps about 12,500 members, started negotiations yesterday with studios and networks, Variety reports. The DGA's current contract doesn't expire until June 30, 2005, but all side are hoping a deal can be reached within the next few weeks in order to avoid a possible work stoppage should negotiations appear not to be moving toward an agreement. The DGA is one of Hollywood's most formidable guilds in terms of unity among its members and understanding the critical intricacies of feature film budgets. Key issues in the negotiations include home video residuals, producer pension and health contributions, and expanding Guild jurisdiction in the reality TV sector.
Celebs join MoveOn.org ad campaign
The Internet political group MoveOn.org premiered Tuesday 10 new anti-Bush ads created by award-winning directors and featuring Hollywood stars, the AP reports. One MoveOn ad teams Silver City director John Sayles with actor Martin Sheen, while another reunites The Bourne Identity helmer Doug Liman with star Matt Damon. Rob Reiner, who directed When Harry Met Sally and The American President, uses snippets from an April news conference in which President Bush struggled to answer whether he'd made mistakes as president, to form the core of his 30-second spot. A spokeswoman for the independent group said that while MoveOn has committed to a sizable national cable buy for its first ad, the rest could remain on the Internet.
MTV unveils Real World in Philadelphia
MTV will debut the 15th season of its reality series The Real World on Sept. 7. According to the AP, the 10,000-square-foot house, in the heart of Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood, was built at the turn of the century and was originally the Union National Bank of Philadelphia but still has the standard Real World amenities, including a hot tub, fitness equipment and pool table. The new season's cast includes Landon, 24, who is sensitive about being labeled a "dumb jock" and has a fear of rejection; Karamo, 23, who struggles with his feelings about interracial dating; Melanie, 22, who has a spontaneous wild streak; MJ, 23, who had dreamed of playing pro football; Sarah, 22, who uses her sex appeal to get what she wants; Shavonda, 22, who is the life of the party; and Willie, 23, who insists that it's his "way or the highway."
WWE looking for prospective wrestlers
World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vince McMahon is launching a reality TV series that will see eight men battling for a four-year wrestling contract and a hefty $1 million prize. The format, however, will be more like Fox's American Idol competition then the WWE reality series Tough Enough, which will not be returning to the MTV airwaves this fall. According to the AP, the new WWE series will be integrated into UPN's Smackdown! beginning in October and ending in December. Each week, viewers will vote for the contestant they want to see win the $1 million contract, while the man with the lowest votes will be sent packing. WWE's Spike TV prime-time show RAW, meanwhile, will be searching for WWE women wrestlers in the RAW Diva Search with a much less substantial prize: a yearlong contract and $250,000 purse.

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Michael Jackson's friend and confidant Gary Pudney tells Access Hollywood that he and "The Gloved One" are working on a feature film about Edgar Allen Poe. The pop oddity plans to star as the father of suspense writing in The Nightmare of Edgar Allen Poe and is reportedly getting acting tips from his eccentric friends Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. Still in the early development stage, the film is about the last days of Poe's life. Pudney said he and Jackson are working to get a producer for the project.
Celebs
Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica Sklar, are expecting their second child, due early next spring, a spokesman for the comedian tells People.com. The couple already has a daughter, Sascha, born in November 2000. Seinfeld has reportedly succumbed to incorporating parenting into his stand-up comedy routine and earlier this year announced plans to publish a children's Halloween book, due out this September.
One-time Baywatch babe Yasmine Bleeth tied the knot this weekend with her boyfriend Paul Cerrito at the exclusive Bacara resort in California, according to People.com. Bleeth and Cerrito, you may recall, were both arrested last September in Michigan after police found cocaine in her purse while investigating a car accident. The two apparently met at the Malibu rehab facility Promises prior their arrest.
Actress Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the late '70s and early '80s Superman movies, is recovering from a broken pelvis she suffered in a weekend highway accident in Belfast, Maine, The Associated Press reports. Kidder's GMC Yukon rolled over several times after hitting some raised pavement. The 53-year-old actress was headed to Montreal when the accident occurred.
Judge Lloyd Nash granted more time Tuesday to actor Robert Blake and his bodyguard, Earle Caldwell, to prepare their defense against charges in the murder of the actor's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, the AP reports. The judge, however, set a preliminary hearing date of Nov. 13 and declared it unchangeable. Blake is being held without bail in the shooting death of Bakley. He also is charged with solicitation of murder and conspiracy and faces a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait. Caldwell is charged with a single count of conspiracy to murder and is free on $1 million bail that Blake posted.
Hollywood screenwriter Dean Riesner died Aug. 18 of natural causes at his Encino, Calif., home at the age of 83, Reuters reports. Riesner, a one-time child actor, came up with Clint Eastwood's all-time great lines "Do you feel lucky, punk?" and "Go ahead, make my day." Riesner is survived by several nieces and nephews.
Movies
TV writer Robert Dellinger sued Nicolas Cage and five companies behind the as-yet-unreleased feature film Sonny Tuesday for copyright infringement, Variety reports. The defendants include Intermedia, Gold Circle Films and its subsidiary Vortex Pictures, Pony Rides and Cage's production company Saturn Films, as well as Cage, screenwriter John Carlen and Vortex executive Paul Brooks. Dellinger said he and Carlen collaborated on several scripts, including the ideas behind the Sonny project, while they were serving time at Terminal Island federal prison in Los Angeles in the 1970s. The suit seeks $2 million in damages and the prevention of the picture's sale overseas.
The Walt Disney Co. is teaming up with Ice Cube for a sports-themed comedy feature film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ice Cube wrote De-Fense and will produce the movie through his Cube Vision company with his partner Matt Alvarez, along with Disney-based Gunn Films and Andrew Gunn. De-Fense is described as a Bad News Bears set in the world of football.
Music
Actress/singer Jennifer Love Hewitt will host the third annual Women Rock! Girls &amp; Guitars concert at the Kodak Theatre on Oct. 10. The event, part of Lifetime Television's public awareness campaign "Stop Breast Cancer for Life," will feature a musical performance by Hewitt, whose fourth album is due out in September. The concert will air Oct. 25.